3.30.16

ASN Morning Read: A Night of Highs and Lows

While the senior team routed Guatemala to stave off a disaster in World Cup qualifying, the U-23s fell to Colombia in the second leg of the Olympic qualifying playoff, missing out for the second time in a row.

“We needed a big reaction and I think everybody had that same reaction of being aggressive, high intensity, getting the ball moving fast,” Kyle Beckerman said. “I think that aggression kind of led to everything good that happened to us.”

Sure crisis was averted, but the win against a bad Guatemala team was no great feat, writes Brian Sciaretta.

Hours later, the U-23s lost 2-1 to Colombia in the second leg of the Olympic qualifying playoff, missing out on the Olympics for the second time in a row. “You get one chance at this,” Jordan Morris said after the match. “You dream about it since you’re a little kid. So it’s a tough one to swallow.”

In the span of four years the U.S. has now missed its first back-to-back Olympics ever and its first U17 World Cup ever.